I've now tried all of the smoothie bowl recipes from the Breakfast Bible, so I decided to start working my way through some of the breakfast toast recipes. I'd already done the avocado toast and the smoked salmon toast, but that still left the cucumber toast and this squash one.

I'd never actually had kabocha squash before (although I have noticed them becoming increasingly popular here over the past few years). They look similar to a buttercup squash, but apparently have a somewhat lower moisture content.

The flavour was quite nice. Especially when mixed with sautéed onion, garlic, and pepper flakes! And the relatively dry flesh made for a good, stiff-but-spreadable consistency that didn't make the toast heavy or soggy. That said, I think it would probably still be okay with a higher moisture squash; it'd just be a bit wetter.

The recipe called for topping the toasts with either shichimi togarashi or chili oil. I probably could've made some shichimi togarashi, but I got mixed up and was thinking that shichimi togarashi referred to special Japanese hot pepper flakes/chiffonade rather than a spice blend. But, since chili oil was suggested as an option, I decided that Laoganma (老干妈) would also be in the right vein. So we elected to top our toasts with everyone's favourite salty, oily, spicy goodness.

The Kidlet wasn't really a fan of these toasts, but TF and I both enjoyed them a lot! The squash and goat cheese work very well together. And, of course, you can't really go wrong with Laoganma!

We used a few thin slices of English muffin bread as the base for our toasts, but pretty much any bread would work. The recipe actually call for whole wheat bread, but I wasn't about to make a whole new loaf just for this recipe. Just use what you have on hand. The exact type of bread isn't super critical to the recipe.

Photo goes here.

Squash Toast

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1/2 kabocha squash
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced (optional)
• 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 125g soft unripened goat cheese
• 4 slices bread, toasted
• 1/4 c. pepitas (hulled pumpkin seeds), toasted
• 2 tsp. Laoganma (老干妈) or shichimi togarashi

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
2. Cut the squash in half¹, scoop out the seeds and guts², and brush it with 1-2 tsp. of the olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
3. Roast the squash at 200°C (400°F) until tender (30-45 minutes).
4. Scoop the flesh out of the skin and mash it. (Discard the skin.)
5. Heat the remaining oil over medium heat.
6. Add the onion and cook for 4-5 minutes.
7. Add the garlic (if using) and pepper flakes and cook for another minute or so.
8. Add the mashed squash and cook, stirring, until well-mixed and heated through.
9. Adjust seasoning to taste.
10. Spread the cheese over the toasts.
11. Spread a layer of squash over the cheese.
12. Top each toast with ~1 Tbsp. of pepitas and ~1/2 tsp. Laoganma and serve.

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¹ You will only need half of the squash for this recipe, but I recommend roasting both pieces and simply saving one half for another use (or making a double batch of toasts). ^Back
2 Either discard the seeds or clean them off, season them, and roast them like pumpkin seeds. ^Back